So odd to suddenly remember that this site exists. I mean honestly, to see that in the sidebar I've posted here less than ten times since the last Presidential election, which, for the love of Peter, is happening again and it is quite the shit show. But we knew that would happen. Or at least, Mike Judge knew.
Anyway, I think I might be able to get back into a reasonable writing schedule, because there are things about this year that I am going to want to remember later. It isn't that this year is all that different from others. My oldest son is a junior in high school, the same high school I once attended. My youngest son is in 8th grade, one final year of middle school. The dog is almost ten years old and going blind from the cataracts, so much so that he can't see in the dark and will freeze if he cannot see. The boys are in band, Boy Scouts, and play soccer. The husband travels for work, often. Not so different, but still busy.
What is different about this year is that I have a new job. In the 12 years since I first decided to start blogging under We're Not In Kansas Anymore, Toto, a name I adopted because of the new experiences gained from moving to Southern California, no year since that very first has been as different as this one. My first as a certified teacher, in a private religious school, surrounded by a culture and a language with which I am not fluent.
It is also different that I have a new child living in my house. Three weeks ago on a whim I noticed some information about foreign exchange students in a community newsletter. I mentioned it to my husband. He did not say no. I emailed the local contact for details and filled out the online form. Approximately six days later, at 1:30 in the morning, we met a boy from South Korea at the airport. He comes from a culture and a language in which I am not fluent. He isn't fluent in our culture, but is close to fluent in our language, and honestly by October he will be. He is a delight, and I think we are adjusting well to being a family of five for the next 10 months. We are slowing down our own speech, using fewer contractions, and sitting down to the dinner table politely (somewhat.) We may still be in the honeymoon phase, but I'll take it.
So. Lots of new, lots of not all that new. In just the few short weeks since school started, I have already learned so much, both from the language and culture of my new school, and of my new family member. I've learned about things that are taken for granted in our culture, that are simply too foreign to make sense in theirs. For example, school lockers are a device that must surely line the doorways of Dante's Seventh Circle of Hell. Having free time to play video games is ridiculous, when one is used to the school day ending at 10 pm. And the word zombie in Hebrew? Still zombie, at least for the 6th graders having giggling fits playing with filters in my Graphic Design class.
It's gonna be a great year.
Great to see you writing! Your exchange student adventure sounds really cool. Best of luck in the new school year!
Posted by: Average Jane | August 29, 2016 at 07:44 AM